First, let me say that Dr. Cvrkel is an amazing lecturer. She’s so humorous and sarcastic that you can’t help but become interested in what she says. You can tell that she cares about her students because she’s always willing to spend a good amount of class time answering students’ questions, and she has a class Facebook group for that purpose as well. This class is basically 1/3 biology and 2/3 ethics and politics, so while a few factual questions do appear on exams, most of the questions test students on how well they can write arguments and defend those arguments.

Here’s what the grading was like for this class:
Attendance and participation: 5%
Homework: 10%
Exam I: 15%
Exam II: 20%
Essay: 20%
Final Exam (cumulative): 30%

The homework is very easy, just reading and making a mini powerpoint about the material taught in the last lecture. I found most of the readings long and boring, but Dr. Cvrkel says they’re fair game for exams, even if she doesn’t go over the readings in class. The exams all involve essays, which I found difficult because it was hard for me to finish in time, and I had to really think about how to write good arguments. The class average generally seems to be around a B though, so it’s not impossible to get a good grade. I found the essay difficult – you have to write about one of the controversial topics discussed in the class – but you don’t have to do research for the essay, and the professor says that as long as you try to write about a difficult topic, even if something goes wrong and your essay isn’t that great, you should still get a decent grade on it. Although the syllabus says the final exam is cumulative, for my class at least the final really wasn’t… maybe because she claims that she tries to learn what students know best during office hours and put that material on the final so students will get better grades.

Overall, I found this class very interesting, although rather difficult… but it really helped me learn how to think critically and write decent arguments.

Awesome professor! One of the best I've ever had. She always keeps you informed with the "business" of the class (like upcoming due dates, reminders about office hours, things like that). This class is a little bit about stem cells, but really more about teaching you how to expose the weak points in other people's arguments, and then forming your own (unbeatable) argument. Great class in terms of learning things that are applicable to real life. Dr. C is a very engaging lecturer and I always looked forward to class with her. Her class is extremely difficult in that it makes you think about controversial issues and form opinions on them; however, she makes sure that a large number of her students get As and Bs. She's always willing to digress on interesting topics that students bring up in class, which I like since that means we're not learning/going over a certain set of information. It's more of an open forum sometimes, so some really interesting points are brought up. The best thing about this class is that it's a hybrid between North and South campus. Centered around science, but building a more North campus skill. Highly recommend this class.

I lovelovelovelove Dr. Cvrkel. I wish she had more classes to take, and I would take them for fun if I could. I took both of her classes and got A's in both.

It isn't a braindead easy class, but it isn't stupidly hard. The effort required I'd say is about 2 hours a week to read, and about 30 minutes of homework. (hw is super easy dont worry. its pass/fail)

She is an excellent lecturer, very funny, chill, and sarcastic in her lectures not just outside the class. Lectures are very engaging, and super interesting to listen to. You won't be bored and its not a chore to go to class

To do well in the class:
1) Go to class

2) Take notes

3) Practice formulating arguments. She'll teach you step by step how to do it and you'll be going over examples everyday in class. You dont need to worry about teaching yourself

Notes are very important, don't skip on it. They are your guide to an A. Try to go over the examples discussed in class because the midterm/final questions are literally the same examples

Tests: you just need to explain an example, or why the example's argument works or doesn't work, and maybe provide a counterexample.

Missed points are usually because you forgot one of the arguments talked about, or you missed an important point in your argument. This can be avoided with good notes.

I LOVE Dr. Cvrkel and her TA Jessica. However, this class is extremely hard, so do not expect an A level grade.

Spring 2015 grade distribution:
5% attendance and participation
10% homework
15% exam 1
20% exam 2
20% paper
30% final

Professor Cvrkel:
Professor Cvrkel was an amazing teacher. She's insanely hilarious and she had a way of lecturing that glued you to your seat and always made things interesting. The things discussed in class were so insightful and made you look at the world differently. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this course or anything else she teaches. She really makes you want to learn. Her lectures were longer than usual, but they were never boring. She mixed it up between straight up lectures and lecturing with a powerpoint. She also had a guest speaker come in and talk.

TA:
Jessica Kriksciun was my TA. She was actually ALL of the TAs for this quarter, which is quite remarkable. She and Cvrkel have been working together for a while, so they are pretty in sync. She made discussion pretty interesting and interactive with your peers. She was overall really helpful with helping to understand the material and applying to the real life.

Attendance and participation grade: A
Attendance was mandatory for both lectures and discussions. You would need to sign in to both. For discussion, you didn't have to participate too much. I hardly did anything, but I still got an A.

Homework grade: A
You had to submit a 3-5 slide powerpoint about an argument you thought was most important from the previous lecture. This would be due the morning before the next lecture. They don't take long to do, and they are easy points. At the end of the quarter, Cvrkel also offered ways to knock off two homework assignments from your grade. You could turn in any type of drawing, even a happy face on a piece of paper, and do an evaluation of the professor.

Exam 1 grade: B
The first exam was three questions in which you had to identify an argument, offer an objection, and evaluate the success of the objection. These were pretty straightforward.

Exam 2 grade: B
The second exam was exactly the same format as the first one. This was not cumulative.

Paper grade: B
The paper was pretty simple. You had to create your own policy based on the content of the course, provide an argument for it, and analyze an objection to it.

Final grade: B+
The final was cumulative and occurred during 10th week in class. I believe it was of similar format the the two exams.

Overall grade: B+
You do not need to be really interested in science to take this course. You learn about the biology of stem cells, but the breadth of the course is about arguments, constructing your own, challenging others. It was a very helpful skill that you can use in the future, and I'm really glad I took this course.

This class was very interesting and engaging! Professor Cvrkel is awesome and knows how to make the class challenging, yet intriguing. Jessica as a TA is great and she really helps break down a lot of the material that Professor Cvrkel goes over in class. Jessica, along with professor Cvrkel, make sure that every question is answered and that you understand the bigger picture. The midterms are pretty straightforward; you just have to make sure you take awesome notes and form a small study group. Although the discussions are mandatory, they are worth your time and are even more helpful for review. The only homework, besides some readings, that are required of the class are 3-5 PowerPoint slides which can easily take at the most 15 to 20 min if you study and practice enough throughout the quarter. Overall this class is no easy A, and expect to actually work and put in more effort than you normally would for a GE class.

I learned extremely important skills in this class: how to formulate arguments, how to think rationally and logically, etc. These skills have helped me in all my classes and other pursuits since. The professor is engaging, funny and extremely intelligent. I thoroughly enjoyed the class for how different it is from other classes and how it opens your eyes to basic principles that we take for granted.

I took MCDB 60 with Cvrkel and got an A.

This class was amazing. It was one of my only classes I liked, and I took it my first quarter at UCLA. It was incredibly interesting and well taught. My TA, Jessica Kriksciun, was the best TA ever. She always had office hours, was always available, graded in a timely manner, and cared deeply for the education of the students.

Overall, the class was not EASY at all, the concepts were tough to grasp for most, but the workload was easy. I would recommend this class to anyone who actually cares about the subject, because it will motivate you to work for that A.

Take this class.

Do you want an easy A? Don't take MCDB 60. Do you want to take a mentally stimulating class with an engaging and funny professor? If yes, then MCDB 60 is for you.

Grading:
5% Attendance
10% Homework
15% Midterm 1
20% Midterm 2
20% Ethical Issue paper
30% Final - Cumulative

Attendance is taken every lecture and discussion. A sign in sheet is passed around at some point during the class. It might get to you in the first five minutes, or it might get to you in the last ten.

There is homework after every lecture, but it is just a 3-5 slide powerpoint teaching the most important argument that was discussed that day. It won't ever take more than 20 minutes and it is pass/fail. All halfway decent attempts get a pass.

The midterms consisted of 3 essay questions and you had the entire class (1 hour and 20 minutes) to finish. This is not simply regurgitating information, but rather forming arguments, finding objections, and evaluating positions. It sounds easy, but I assure you it is not.

The paper is on a moral issue that is relevant to you, but your topic must be approved. It is only five pages, but it is not the type of paper you can crank out the night before and get a good grade. It requires thorough planning and a strong understanding of how to write an argument. Dr. Cvkrel even said it was the hardest part of the class.

The final is just like the midterms, only it is cumulative. It takes place during the last class of week 10.

Nobody can deny that Dr. Cvrkel is an amazing lecturer. She is funny and engaging, so attending lecture never felt like a chore. My biggest complaint about her is availability. She has office hours every week, but they are always filled with people, so it can be hard to get more than a minute or so of her time unless you are willing to wait a while. The paper was also due the Monday after Thanksgiving, which sucked considering it was a very challenging paper to write.

The TA, Jen, is also excellent. She typically had everything graded within a reasonable amount of time. Discussion sections helped clear up everything that came up in lectures. My only complain about her is that her office hours were Tuesday and Thursday mornings in Hershey, so a solid 25+ minute walk from the hill.

Overall, this was an awesome class. It won't constantly bombard you with work, but it is definitely not easy. Take it if you want an interesting class, but pass on it if you need a GPA boosting GE.

Amazing class.

Not an Easy GE by any regards, but the information is so interesting it doesn't matter, you're willing to put in the time.

Material isn't hard, just keep up with readings, go to lecture and an office hour or two and you'll get an A- or an A.

Cvrkel and both Jessica's are amazing, so sad I don't have a class with her anymore. If you like science take this class.